Former Del. Bob Purkey Passes Away at 84

Former Delegate Harry “Bob” R. Purkey, 84, passed away on Friday. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1986 until 2013, representing part of Virginia Beach.

House Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) issued a statement on hearing the news of Del. Purkey’s passing.

“I am sad to hear about the passing of Delegate Purkey. Bob was an honorable public servant who spent his life working to making the Commonwealth a better place to live, work, and raise a family. Delegate Purkey was a longtime Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, and his leadership was influential in the passage of the 2013 transportation funding and reform legislation.

“Bob was a proud resident of a back row seat on the House floor, serving alongside Delegate Bob Tata and Speaker Howell in the ‘Sensitivity Caucus’ for many years. He made the House a lively place for many years. Most importantly, Delegate Purkey was a mentor and friend to many in the General Assembly. The House of Delegates sends its condolences to Bob’s entire family.”

Obituary for Bob Purkey: July 13, 1934 – February 16, 2018

It is with great sadness that the children of Harry Robert “Bob” Purkey announce that their father passed away on February 16, 2018. Bob was born on July 13, 1934, in Parsons, West Virginia. He had a rough childhood but was blessed with a loving sister Nancy, and a devoted and protective grandmother.

He moved to Norfolk, Va., with his family and graduated from Maury High School. It was while attending Maury that he met his future wife, Sonja Firing Purkey, who attended rival Granby High School. After high school Bob attended the Norfolk Division of William and Mary.

He could not afford to go to college full time so he worked while attending night school for eight years to earn his college degree. By then W&M- Norfolk Division had become Old Dominion College and then later Old Dominion University. He was a proud ODU graduate and also an Army veteran.

Bob and Sonja married in 1957 and had 3 children: Harry Robert Purkey, Jr; Charlotte H. Purkey, and Jon Gregory Purkey. Like most young married couples they lived in cramped quarters and starter homes in Norfolk for several years. Bob was working at Continental Grain Company while attending night school.

In the late 1960’s he was given a job with (then) Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Bean. Bob worked for Merrill Lynch for over five decades until his illness led to his retirement in 2015. Bob loved history, and government and politics.

As a young college student he was energized by one of his professor’s first political campaigns, that of G. William Whitehurst. Thereafter, Bob was involved in local and then statewide politics. The family moved to Virginia Beach in 1970 where Bob became involved in numerous community and civic organizations.

In 1985 he ran for the House of Delegates for the 82nd house district. He won, and he was sworn into the Virginia General Assembly in January 1986. He served in the legislature until his retirement in January 2014.

He loved meeting residents in his district, helping to solve problems, and working to improve the Commonwealth. He served on and then chaired various committees within the legislature during his 28 years of service. He served as Chairman of the House Finance Committee.

He loved public service. (And, he did all this while still working full time at Merrill Lynch!) Bob also served the community through various boards and foundations, too numerous to mention. But he especially enjoyed working with the Tidewater Automobile Association, on whose Board he served for many years, as well as with the Virginia Aquarium, and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Bob was a high school athlete in several sports.

His love of sports and community combined when he served as a recreational league coach for football and basketball for many, many years. He spent most summer evenings with ball practice and years of Saturdays coaching and attending games. If it was a Saturday in the 1970’s it was a day with a dozen kids and “Snag” Nesbit and George Parr coaching football, or with Bill Emerson coaching basketball.

Our dad loved helping those kids. Years later when he’d run into his former players he’d get real joy in seeing how they had matured, and meeting their own families. Our dad was a fantastic role model for hundreds of young boys in our community and he considered his coaching years one of his best accomplishments. (Go Surfers! Go Seagulls!) Because of his long career in finance and in politics, many people met our father.

But we want to share some of the things that made him a funny, sweet dad/husband/friend. Our dad loved war movies. He could flawlessly whistle the theme from the movie, “The Bridge over the River Kwai,” and would drop everything to watch reruns of that movie on weekends.

He loved to cook. He made gigantic pots of stew on weekends, fudge on cold winter nights, and fabulous ribs all summer. The breakfast “SOS” he’d make for us on cold mornings bore no resemblance to Army food, as it more likely made with a white wine reduction sauce and fresh mushrooms!

His Thanksgiving dinners were legendary — and if he couldn’t find the largest fresh turkey in town he certainly got the second largest one! We had countless bowls of late night popcorn while watching TV with our dad. We had fabulous weekends with family at Sandbridge, starting in the mid-1960s — when there was no city water, no phones, few houses, but lots of adventures.

Our father taught us all how to fish, and our summer evenings were often at the beach surfcasting or on the back pier with a cane pole, a bobber, and bloodworms. He taught us how to mark a trail in a forest; how to make the perfect whole hog BBQ; how to start a roaring fire in the fireplace. He loved golf and loved his golfing buddies.

My parents had a close group of friends with whom they had raucous New Year’s Eve parties. We thank the Cunninghams, the Brantleys, the Fosters, the McCormicks, the Gaskins, the Stevensons, the Harps, and the Royals for their love and friendship with my parents for decades. If you knew my dad well you knew he was addicted to Diet Cokes and Plaza Bakery brownies.

He sang crazy ad-lib songs for us all the time. When he laughed really hard he would throw his head back and just laugh until he cried. He loved HUBS peanuts.

He could identify crops, animal tracks, clouds. He loved rocks and geology, and brought home some rock from most every place he traveled. When we cleaned out the trunk of his car we found dozens of river rocks, and on some he’d written the original location (Goshen Pass, Rivanna River, etc).

He was a bit of a lead foot when driving (probably because his car was so heavy with all those rocks in the trunk!). Our thanks to all the Virginia State Police who kindly told him to sloooow down on his many trips back and forth to Richmond. Our dad loved our family dogs.

Once he stopped coaching, summer evenings would find him snoozing in a lounge chair on the back deck with a pair of dogs at his feet – “just getting some sun.” He loved ties! It takes a confident man to wear a tie covered with yellow flowers, but the brighter the better. Our dad was kind and generous and outgoing.

He told everyone he met that they were “so smart,” “so beautiful,” or “so handsome.” He hugged everyone. We will miss those big bear hugs. He was extremely busy — but every December he’d carve out a day for a special father-daughter Christmas shopping trip, a tradition that continued for more than 40 years.

We only saw our father truly angry, truly afraid once — which led to the infamous “Sandbridge spanking” delivered to Harry and Greg. (You’ll have to ask them what they did to deserve it!) He loved having a gin and tonic while sitting on the pier with my mom at sunset. More than anything our father loved his family. He joins his beloved wife — our mom — in heaven as she died 6 ½ years ago.

He also joins in heaven his sister Nancy Purkey Hermit, his niece Thea Hermit Wilson, and nephew Bruce Hermit, as well as our mother’s parents and her brother, Fritz Firing. He is survived by his brother-in-law Richard Hermit and nephew Randy Hermit, and sister- in- law Mary Firing and her children Susan Stroehm, Fritz Firing, Jr., and Eric Firing. He is also survived by what he would describe as “the most wonderful” children in the world, Harry Jr. and his wife Nancy Purkey, Charlotte and her husband Barry Dorans, and Greg and his wife Monica Celmer Purkey.

He is also survived by his granddaughters, Nina and Charlotte. He was so proud of them and would still encourage them that they could do anything — and they should know he will love them forever. They were his greatest joy.

During the last several years Bob suffered the effects from several strokes. It has been hard to watch the decline of someone so friendly and talkative. So, to honor our father, please remember his smile, his big laugh, his generous spirit, his warmth, his sense of humor, and his compassion.

In light of our father’s strong charitable spirit, in lieu of flowers, please honor him by making a donation to either the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia or to the Virginia Beach SPCA.

The family will receive visitors on Thursday, February 22, 2018, at Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home Great Neck Chapel, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The funeral service will be held at that same location on Friday, February 23, 2018, at 1 p.m.

Burial thereafter will be private for family only.